Easter Thunderball
Sunday (qualifying)

Click here to go back to the event index.

19:30

Today's pictures have now been posted. You can get to them from the event update index.

We're now off round the pits to see what we can find out, I will try not to lock myself out of my car this time! Thanks for your company today, tune back tomorrow morning for all the race day action.

19:15

It's been a great day's qualifying in the Sportsman classes. Amongst the many highlights were Danny Cockerill running two 7.97s to cement his #1 position in Super Modified, our two German Comp Bike racers - the two Klauses - taking #1 and #2, Brian Pateman running a perfect 8.900 in Super Comp, the allegedly-retired Frank Mason taking #1 in Super Gas, Tony Clark stealing the #1 spot in Super Street Bike with a fine 8.4 in the last run of the last session of SSB, Sue Jackson getting so close to the eights with a 9.03 in Custom Car Street Eliminator, and Martin Bishop smashing into the sevens to take #1 in Pro Stock Bike.

We also as expected saw Roger Moore getting back on the horse with a couple of half-track passes in the Shaken Not Stirred Herald, which crashed yesterday. Roger had written "No Wing" in big letters on the dashboard and you could see the effect of the missing rear wing as the car started to skate at half track just as Roger got off it. Tim Garlick also put in a couple of strong passes in his Super Modified which dinged the guardrail yesterday, some great wheelies off the start line and if there were any demons (unlikely) they have been well and truly exorcised.

The final standings in MSA British Top Methanol are as follows: 1. Dave Wilson 5.597/252.84, 2. Rob Turner 6.346/189.00, 3. Doug Bond 7.272/119.44, 4. Steph Milam 8.725/189.84

The top two in all other classes at the end of qualifying are as follow:

Super Pro ET: 1. Martyn Jones +0.047 7.667/173.16, 2. Steve Johnson +0.088 7.548/174.86
Pro ET: 1. Conrad Stanley +0.019 10.119/130.31, 2. Malcolm Motler +0.019 11.139/116.41
Sportsman ET: 1. Paul Voyce +0.013 13.913/98.43, 2. Ian Jackson +0.030 14.380/91.53
Super Comp: 1. Brian Pateman 8.900/152.06, 2. Phil Bennett 8.911/140.17
Super Gas: 1. Frank Mason 9.902/138.88, 2. Martin Curbishley 9.908/140.42
Super Street: 1. Dave Cherrett 10.920/102.27, 2. Martin Green 10.955/120.75
Junior Dragster: 1. Stuart Morrice 0.503, 2. Ricky Emms 0.505
Custom Car Street Eliminator (after Cruise): 1. Sue Jackson 9.031/157.43, 2. Steve Pateman 9.100/154.89
Super Modified: 1. Danny Cockerill 7.973/191.93, 2. Rob Smallworth 8.598/166.81
VW Pro: 1. Paul Jackson +0.194 8.594/148.12, 2. Russ Fellows +0.197 11.647/116.46
VW Sportsman: 1. Stephen Lee +0.087 15.387/74.42, 2. Brian Burrows +0.119 14.319/98.13

Pro Stock Bike: 1. Martin Bishop 7.817/167.83, 2. Nick Pepper 7.824/173.54
Funny Bike: 1. Dave Holland 7.221/179.22, 2. Chris Hall 7.240/182.47
Competition Bike: 1. Klaus Brinkmann 8.276/157.08, 2. Klaus Sarembe 8.335/157.97
Super Street Bike: 1. Tony Clark 8.409/174.04, 2. Graham Dance 8.537/168.29
9.90 Bike: 1. Paul Hambidge 9.904/133.66, 2. Paul Newman 9.906/132.50
10.90 Bike: 1. TJ O'Brien 10.927/124.90, 2. Sandra Chaplain 10.931/111.43

18:00

As you can probably tell from the gaps in updates we had a couple of weather-related delays this afternoon. We are currently in today's final qualifying cycle and will be finished quite soon.

Susanne Callin's latest licencing pass proved dramatic as after a perfect burnout and hard launch, flames erupted from the engine at 200 feet. Susanne tells us that she realised that something was wrong and so got off the throttle but she did not know that the engine was on fire, so she was surprised to see the fire crew chasing after her at the top end! Susanne clocked 11.81/74.77 on that pass, and has done absolutely everything right so far so that licence isn't going to be far off.

The last session of Top Methanol qualifying was again contested by two cars. Rob Turner put in a planned 1000-foot pass. The Turners have been plagued with oiling problems this weekend but on this evidence are over the worst as Rob thundered to a 6.34/189.00 and made it look very easy. Steph Milam clocked an 8.79/124.69 in the other lane.

Andy Carter, Barry Sheavills and John Spuffard turned out for the second round of the Pro Fuel Shootout. Gary Page (bearing), Gordon Smith (fire damage) and Robin Read (engine damage) weren't able to make the call this time around. Andy Carter soloed to a 5.76 /193.26, a great pedalling job not far off the line and an early shutoff. Then Barry Sheavills and John Spuffard matched up. Barry was unable to get out of reverse after backing up from his burnout, so Spuff soloed. When he hit the throttle Spuff hit bad tyre shake and the car jumped to the right, Spuff was straight off the throttle and idled down the track to a 21.04/56.47. So Andy Carter and John Spuffard lead the Shootout standings with one qualifying session and then the final round tomorrow.

Tune back soon and we'll have the final qualifying standings for you.

14:40

Today's second round of Top Methanol qualifying was again contested by two cars, a match-up between Doug Bond and Steph Milam. Doug lost fire on the way back from the burnout so Steph soloed. She pedalled off the start line with wheelspin but then kept her boot in all the way and was visibly accelerating hard towards the finish, clocking 8.72/189.84.

Martin Hill warmed us all up with a pass of 6.41/245.96 in the Fireforce 2 Jet FC to take us into the second complete cycle of qualifying.

We're expecting Susanne Callin to appear shortly with her next Top Fuel licencing pass, stay tuned!

14:00

Today's first cycle of Sportsman qualifying has now finished and the top qualifiers in each class are as follow:

Competition Bike: Klaus Brinkmann 8.417/155.47
Pro Stock Bike: Nick Pepper 7.824/173.54
Funny Bike: Dave Holland: 7.221/179.22
Junior Dragster: Stuart Morrice 0.503
Pro ET: Conrad Stanley +0.019 10.119/130.31
Super Pro ET: Steve Johnson +0.088 7.548/174.86
Custom Car Street Eliminator: Sue Jackson 9.099/158.59
VW Pro: Paul Jackson +0.194 8.594/148.12
VW Sportsman: Stephen Lee +0.687 15.387/74.32
Super Modified: Danny Cockerill 7.973/171.93
Top Methanol: Dave Wilson 5.597/252.84
Sportsman ET: Paul Voyce +0.013 13.913/98.43
Super Street: Dave Cherrett 10.924/102.02
Super Gas: Dave Townsend 9.928/139.27
Super Comp: Phil Bennett 8.911/140.17
Super Street Bike: Graham Dance 8.537/168.29
9.90 Bike: Paul Hambidge 9.904/133.66
10.90 Bike: 1. TJ O'Brien 10.927/124.90

13:45

Congratulations to Pro ET racer Conrad Stanley who has won this event's Eurodragster Perfect Light award with a 0.500 in qualifying.

13:30

We've now had the first round of the Pro Fuel Shootout and it was as ever fast, furious and dramatic. First up we had Robin Read (TF) and Gary Page (FC) on their solo familiarisation passes. Robin hit tyre shake off the line then pedalled for over a second, got back on the throttle and then with clutch sparks shooting from under the car, got off it at half track to record 10.82/79.63. Gary Page put in a gentle burnout and a pass to 200 or so feet, clocking 9.98/82.16.

The first TF-FC match-up was between Barry Sheavills and Gordon Smith. With all the new parts in the engine we wondered how long he was going to stay on the throttle, the answer was obviously "as long as it feels OK" as he kept the pedal to the metal all the way down the track. Suddenly near the top end flames appeared from the left-hand side of the car, and the FC fireballed just past the finish line. Gordon got it stopped and was out very quickly indeed, and is perfectly OK. A personal best ET of 5.64 at 226.24 mph will be no consolation but it proves that all the off-season changes are doing the trick. Barry hit tyre shake and was off the throttle before half-track, clocking 8.16/93.29.

The last pairing was between Andy Carter and John Spuffard. Spuff was on the throttle to about 1000 feet, a nice straight pass, clocking 5.90/175.41. Andy got away from the line very quickly and overhauled Spuff at the top end, wiping out the 0.35 head start and getting there first at 5.59/217.06.

So after one round of the Pro Fuel Shootout, Andy Carter leads the TFs and Gordon Smith the FCs although Gordon expressed doubts about the reappearance of the Shockwave team this weekend because of damage to the body of the car.

The third round of Top Methanol qualifying was contested by Dave Wilson and Steph Milam. Dave put in another screaming pass and backed up yesterday's ET with a 5.61 at 241.89. It looked very effortless, and like the Fuel car passes was all the more impressive on what is not the warmest track temperature ever recorded. Steph Milam bounced away from the line and was on and off the throttle a couple of times to record 8.98/179.50.

The first of today's cycles of Sportsman qualifying is still underway, stay tuned and we'll bring you the top qualifiers very soon.

11:30

Hi there and as you probably worked out from the lack of updates, we have had a few problems with the wet stuff this morning. But we're now all set, the pairing lanes are full and we'll be off in a few seconds.

A few words from the pits, where we first encountered Tim Garlick who you will remember dinged the guardrail in his Cortina Super Modified yesterday. The car suffered only cosmetic damage to one front wing and it has been put back together. Tim modestly talked down his driving job yesterday. "I eventually took my hands off the wheel because steering was making it worse", he said. "I just stood on the brakes. I thought I was going to get away with it."

Colin Aldred told us that there was some damage to the front beam of his slingshot dragster after the huge wheelie yesterday. The car will be at Andy Robinson Race Cars this week for the work on the front end.

Unlikely as it seems (actually not that unlikely given the drag racing spirit), we may be seeing Roger Moore in the Shaken Not Stirred Herald today. The chassis was not damaged and the car has been re-scutineered. It's mainly a case of the team deciding whether to put in some test launches or whether to take tehe car home for an extra day and a half's work.

Pro ET racer Rob Elsom has been battling problems with his gearbox this weekend, and asked us to say a big Thank You to Dave Eady and Paul Hudson for their help in sorting it out.

The Wildside Top Fuel Dragster team have announced that they won't be appearing this weekend. "Everything has to be 100% right to enable a successful debut, however the lack of correct parts arriving in time from America has led to this situation", said Lesley Wright. "We are extremely grateful for all the help and support from other Fuel teams and wish them luck for this weekend". The team have kindly given us a look at the car's new colours, click on the picture for the full-sized version. The team hope to test within the next few weeks.

With qualifying now underway we're going to get trackside with our cameras and notebook and we will be back very soon with news of the first cycle.

9:00

Good morning and welcome again from Santa Pod Raceway for the second day of our Easter Thunderball coverage in association with American Car Imports. It's day two of the event and day one of the Pro Fuel Shootout which is due at 12:00.

When we left you last night we were off for a walk around the pits. This was unexpectedly nipped in the bud as your reporter managed to lock his keys in his car ten minutes after signing off. Everything from the notebook to warm clothing was in the car. The good news is that through the good services of Green Flag the situation was resolved late last night although too late to carry out the pit walk. A big Thank You from Tog to Mark Pointer for his ready assistance, to the American Car Imports team for the lift, and a personal Thank You to Sharkman for moral support in trying circumstances and for having the nous to suggest the call to Green Flag.

We are now off for a quick turn around the pits so stay tuned and we will let you know what we find out.